Zed Review: A High-Performance Code Editor Built in Rust

Product	Zed
Website	zed.dev
Category	Code Editor / IDE
Platform	macOS, Linux (Windows in development)
Pricing	Free and open source
Built With	Rust, GPUI (GPU-accelerated UI framework)

What Is Zed?

Zed is a code editor built from scratch in Rust by the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter. Every part of the editor — the text buffer, the syntax highlighting, the UI rendering — is designed for performance. The UI renders on the GPU. The text buffer is a rope data structure. Syntax highlighting uses Tree-sitter incrementally. The result is a code editor that feels instant in a way that Electron-based editors can’t match.

Zed is also built for collaboration. Multiple developers can edit the same file simultaneously, see each other’s cursors, and share terminals — like Google Docs for code, but with an editor that performs like a native application instead of a web browser.

Key Features

GPU-Accelerated Rendering

Zed renders its entire UI on the GPU through GPUI, its custom UI framework. Scrolling, animations, cursor movement, and text rendering are all GPU-accelerated. The difference is most noticeable when scrolling through large files or when multiple panes are open: where VS Code starts dropping frames, Zed maintains smooth 120fps rendering.

Real-Time Collaboration

Share a project with teammates and edit together in real time. See each other’s cursors, selections, and edits as they happen. Share terminal sessions. The collaboration is built into the editor, not bolted on through an extension — it uses CRDTs for conflict-free concurrent editing.

Built-In AI Assistant

Zed has a native AI assistant panel that connects to Claude, GPT, and other LLMs. The assistant can see your open files, your project context, and your recent edits. Because it’s built into the editor, the context passing is richer than what an extension can achieve: the assistant knows what you’re looking at, what you’ve changed, and where your cursor is.

Extension System

Zed extensions are WebAssembly modules, which means they’re sandboxed, fast to load, and can be written in any language that compiles to Wasm. The language server integration is extension-based, so new language support is added through the same system.

Who Is This For?

• Developers who want editor speed — if VS Code’s performance bothers you, Zed will feel like a relief
• Pair programmers and teams who want native real-time collaboration
• Developers using AI coding tools who want tight editor integration
• macOS and Linux users (Windows support is in progress)